A prior art base of a cake packaging box is provided with radial and peripheral stiffening ribs preventing deformation of the cake when the box base is curved during carriage from place to place (Patent RU 2,314,985).
The cross-sectional shape of the box base is designed to serve this purpose.
Another prior art box for uncut cake has a lid that can be attached to the base by fastening means. The shaped base comprises several raised sections formed as sectors with radial grooves provided in between and converging on the central part of the base that has a depression. Two annular projections provided on the base periphery alternate with annular grooves. The base provided inside the box with a cake tray is identical in shape to the main part of the base (U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,940).
In the inventors' view, the cross-sectional shape of the box base and tray must improve cohesion between the base and tray and between the tray and the underside of the cake.
The inventions of the two prior art patents relate to the packaging of uncut confectionery goods and, therefore, do not have means for removing separate portions of the product from the packaging.
Yet another prior art device comprises pushers for portions of a confectionery product to be removed and transferred to their respective trays, each having a wedge shape and being provided with a carrying handle (Patent CN 2,551,603).
This prior art device is not a packaging, and rather is designed for stationary use at cafeterias, stores, and the like. Moreover, as a portion of a confectionery product is removed by pushers in the prior art device, it is likely to be damaged.
A further prior art packaging, or carton assembly, is intended for holding presliced cake segments provided with flaps. Each cake slice is wrapped around on three sides thereof with a segmented packaging element. The wrapped cake slices are placed on a plate and a cover is put over them (U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,159).
The prior art packaging requires too much packaging material.
Still another prior art packaging for individual parts of a cake or pastry slices comprises a box having a container for the cake parts inside and at least one element in the form of a grip to remove an individual cake part from the container. The grip is made from a strip of firm material curved into a U-shaped item (Patent RU 53,656).
A disadvantage of the grip used in this prior art packaging is that it grips a cake part from top and bottom, with a very high likelihood that the cake part having its top surface unprotected may be damaged by a finger of the consumer's hand upon removal from the box.
The preceding two prior art inventions have a further disadvantage that the consumer cannot see how the product he buys looks on the outside.
Patent KR 20030020736 describes a method for providing adhesion between a confectionery product and tray by silastic (silicone resin) that is neutral to humans, but is not a food product itself. When actually used, the prior art invention does not fully prevent pieces of resin from sticking to the confectionery product and getting into the human organism with it.